Colorado lien waiver requirements
Colorado does not publish mandatory conditional and unconditional lien-waiver forms. It does, however, require every agreement waiving a mechanic's lien under Article 22 to contain a statement from the waiving party that its covered debts to third parties have been paid or will be paid on time. That makes Colorado a mandatory-content state, not a no-formality state.
What Colorado actually changes
At a glance
- No statewide statutory waiver template or mandated set of four forms was located.
- C.R.S. § 38-22-119(2) mandates a statement about payment of the signer’s covered third-party debts.
- A waiver binds only its parties; collect claimant-by-claimant waivers.
- No categorical statutory ban on all pre-work waivers was located, but current-law enforceability remains fact-sensitive and not squarely resolved by a post-2009 published decision found here.
- On covered Article 46 private projects, a contract-required executed waiver addresses amounts actually paid.
- Routine waivers need no witness or notary under the waiver provisions reviewed; recorded satisfactions are a separate recorder-facing document.
- Public property uses Article 26 bond/retained-fund remedies, not an Article 22 mechanic's lien.
Detailed state rules and primary sources
State-specific workflow notes
Colorado does not publish mandatory conditional and unconditional lien-waiver forms. It does, however, require every agreement waiving a mechanic's lien under Article 22 to contain a statement from the waiving party that its covered debts to third parties have been paid or will be paid on time. That makes Colorado a mandatory-content state, not a no-formality state.
A waiver generally binds only its parties. An owner-GC no-lien clause does not, by itself, erase the rights of subcontractors or suppliers that never agreed to it. Colorado's current statute does not categorically void every advance waiver between signatories, but published decisions require clear intent, and no post-2009 published appellate decision located in this research squarely resolves a modern pre-work clause under the current language.
For covered private contracts—generally owner-prime contracts of at least $150,000 plus their downstream agreements—Colorado also addresses executed waivers for amounts actually paid when the contract requires a waiver for payment. A GC workflow should identify the project, claimant, through-date, payment, exclusions, and any retained amount; include Colorado's required debt statement; and make any check-clearance condition explicit. Keep delivery and payment records together. Do not use the private-project waiver workflow for public property, and do not confuse a progress waiver with the separate recorded-lien satisfaction required after a filed lien is paid. Contract-specific review by Colorado counsel is prudent.
Rules that change the workflow
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Mandatory substance, not a statutory form. Section 38-22-119(2) requires the waiving party to address payment of its third-party debts tied to the goods or services covered by the waiver. The statute leaves the document's format and conditional/unconditional structure to the drafter.
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A waiver binds its parties, not an entire payment chain. Section 38-22-119(1) expressly limits binding effect to parties to the waiver agreement. Armour applies that principle to reject an owner's attempt to use an owner-prime clause alone against downstream nonparties. A GC should obtain a separate waiver from each claimant whose rights it intends to address.
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Advance waivers are not categorically voided by the current text—but reliance is risky. No current provision located in § 38-22-119 declares every pre-work waiver or no-lien clause void. Bishop recognizes express contractual waiver and demands clear intent. That supports only a cautious inference that a clear clause may operate between its signatories; it does not bind nonparties. No published post-2009 Colorado appellate decision was located that squarely decides a modern pre-work clause under § 38-22-119(2) and § 38-46-104.
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Payment conditions should be explicit. On Article 46 projects, § 38-46-104 speaks to an executed waiver for sums actually paid when a contract requires one to receive payment. In Mountain Stone, a stopped contractor check did not retroactively make an otherwise broad release conditional as against an owner that paid in reliance. If effectiveness depends on collected funds, the waiver should say so and identify the payment.
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Delivery and reliance can matter to third-party estoppel. Mountain Stone enforced the consequence of releases delivered before the owner paid in reliance; Campbell did not establish estoppel where pre-payment knowledge and reliance were not proven. These cases do not create a universal statutory consideration rule. Operationally, preserve delivery, payment, and clearance evidence together.
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Execution is required in a defined private-project category. Article 46 covers an owner-prime contract of at least $150,000 and its downstream subcontracts and supply agreements, even if those are smaller. It excludes a single contract for one single-family dwelling, one residential building of four units or fewer, and public-entity contracts. Sections 38-22-119 and 38-46-104 prescribe no witness or notary step for a routine waiver. Colorado's electronic-transactions statute generally permits an electronic record and signature when both parties agree to transact electronically.
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Routine waivers, recorded-lien satisfactions, and public claims are different. After a recorded private lien and qualifying payment, § 38-22-118 requires an acknowledgment of satisfaction within ten days after a written request; delay carries a $10-per-day forfeiture. Public property is not subject to the Article 22 mechanic's lien analyzed here. Public-work bond or retained-fund claims require a separate Article 26 analysis. A construction-loan waiver also carries the specific criminal exposure in § 18-5-302(3).
Primary sources
- C.R.S. §§ 38-22-118 and 38-22-119 (2025). Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services, official Title 38. Section 119 supplies the party limitation and mandatory third-party-debt statement. Section 118 governs satisfaction of a lien already filed of record, including the ten-day response period and daily forfeiture after a written request.
- C.R.S. §§ 38-46-102 to -104 (2025). Official Title 38. These sections define Article 46's covered private contracts and exclusions, and require an executed waiver for sums actually paid when the governing agreement makes a waiver a payment requirement.
- C.R.S. § 18-5-302(3) (2025). Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services, official Title 18. A construction-loan waiver signer who knowingly fails to pay covered construction debts on time commits a class 2 misdemeanor unless a bona fide dispute exists over the debt or amount.
- C.R.S. §§ 24-71.3-103, -105, and -107 (2025). Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services, official Title 24. Colorado's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act generally recognizes electronic records and signatures where both parties agreed to transact electronically, subject to its scope and exceptions.
- Colorado General Assembly, Red Book 2026. Official 2026 statutory-change table; see also 2026 Colo. Sess. Laws ch. 129 (HB 26-1311). The change table was checked through its July 2, 2026 update. It lists 2026 amendments to §§ 38-46-101 and -103, but none to §§ 38-22-119, 38-46-104, or 18-5-302. Chapter 129 took effect August 12, 2026 and concerns retainage bonds, not the waiver rule.
- Bishop v. Moore, 137 Colo. 263, 323 P.2d 897 (1958). Colorado Judicial Branch Case Law Search. A lien claimant can expressly waive lien rights, but waiver intent must be clear; ambiguity is resolved against waiver.
- Armour & Co. of Delaware v. McPhee & McGinnity Co., 85 Colo. 262, 275 P. 12 (1929). Colorado Judicial Branch Case Law Search. Section 38-22-119's predecessor limited a contractual waiver to the contracting parties; an owner-prime clause did not itself waive nonparty downstream claimants' rights.
- Mountain Stone Co. v. H.W. Hammond Co., 39 Colo. App. 58, 564 P.2d 958 (1977). Colorado Judicial Branch Case Law Search. Broad releases delivered before owner payment covered lien rights and supported estoppel where the owner then paid in reliance. A claimant wanting the release conditioned on check clearance needed to say so expressly. The case predates § 38-22-119(2)'s 2009 amendment.
- Campbell v. Graham, 144 Colo. 532, 357 P.2d 366 (1960). Colorado Judicial Branch Case Law Search. Estoppel was not established as a matter of law where evidence conflicted over representations and the owner-side agent did not see the release until after payment.
- Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction Co., LLC v. Regional Rail Partners, 2026 CO 19, ¶¶ 23, 51. Colorado Supreme Court official opinion PDF. Public property is outside the Mechanics' Lien Act; Colorado's Public Works Act instead provides analogous bond and retained-fund remedies.
Source-by-source reference points
1. Colorado's required waiver statement
Body: Every agreement waiving Article 22 lien rights must include the signer’s substantive representation that third-party debts tied to the covered work or materials have been paid or will be paid on time. Colorado mandates the content but supplies no form.
Source: C.R.S. § 38-22-119(2), official Title 38
2. Party-by-party effect
Body: A contractual waiver is binding only between its parties. An owner-prime clause is not a substitute for waivers from nonparty subcontractors, lower-tier subcontractors, or suppliers.
Source: C.R.S. § 38-22-119(1), official Title 38; Armour, official case
3. Clear and conditional language
Body: Colorado precedent disfavors implied waiver. If a release is intended to become effective only when identified funds clear, state that condition directly rather than relying on the payment context.
Source: Bishop, official case; Mountain Stone, official case
4. Paid amounts on covered private projects
Body: Article 46 applies to specified private construction contracts and their downstream agreements. If the agreement requires a waiver to receive payment, the recipient must execute one for the sums actually paid.
Source: C.R.S. §§ 38-46-102 and -104, official Title 38
5. Releasing a recorded lien
Body: Once a filed lien and specified costs are paid, the claimant must record a satisfaction within ten days after an interested person's written request. A refused valid tender counts as payment for this provision; delay produces a statutory daily forfeiture.
Source: C.R.S. § 38-22-118, official Title 38
6. Construction-loan signer exposure
Body: A signer who knowingly fails to pay covered construction debts on time after signing a construction-loan lien waiver can face a class 2 misdemeanor, subject to the statute's bona fide-dispute exception.
The four waivers, and what each one says
Two questions decide which one you are sending: has the money actually arrived, and does this cover the whole job or just this pay period? These are the descriptions the industry uses — what a specific Colorado document releases is a question for your counsel, on its own words.
Takes effect only when the stated payment is actually received. Covers work through a stated date or payment, and typically reserves retainage and later work.
States the release outright after payment. Same scope as the conditional partial — this pay period, not the whole job.
Same condition as above — effective on receipt of the stated payment — but scoped to the job through completion rather than to one period.
The release stated outright after final payment, for the job through completion. This is the one that is expensive to sign early, which is why the order it goes out in matters.
Where they land in a pay cycle
This is how the paperwork tends to move, not a rule about Colorado. What your subcontracts require, and when, is your organization’s decision with counsel.
- 1Sub bills you
The pay application arrives for the period.
- 2Conditional goes out
Requested with or ahead of the payment.
- 3You pay
The payment is sent and the money arrives.
- 4Unconditional follows
Requested once the money has actually landed.
Final payment repeats the pattern at the end of the job. The step that goes wrong in practice is the fourth one: the conditional went out, the money arrived, and nobody went back for the unconditional.
Colorado’s mechanics’ and construction lien provisions are at Colo. Rev. Stat. Title 38, Article 22 (General Mechanics' Lien), §§ 38-22-101 to 38-22-133.
Read it on content.leg.colorado.govWhat Colorado’s lien chapter covers
34 sections ↓
Section whose heading names a waiver or release: 38-22-118. That is a match on the heading text, not a statement about what those sections say.
- Liens in favor of whom - when filed - definition of person.
- Payments - effect.
- Attaching of lien - enforcement.
- Lien on mining property.
- Property subject to lien - notice.
- Notice of lien law.
- Priority of lien - attachments.
- Lien attaches to water rights and franchises.
- Rank of liens.
- Lien statement.
- Action commenced within six months.
- Joinder of parties - consolidation of actions.
- Allegations of complaint.
- Hearing - judgment - summons - defense.
- Disposition of proceeds - execution.
- Parties to action.
- Costs.
- Assignment of lien - failure to support lien.
- 38-22-118 Satisfaction of lien - failure to release.
- Agreement to waive - effect.
- Rules of civil procedure apply.
- Liens of surveyors and engineers.
- Lien under two contracts - effect.
- Payment to avoid invalid.
Conditional Partial · Unconditional Partial · Conditional Final · Unconditional Final
Open the configured Colorado specimen
General conditional-progress template for Colorado review
Colorado lien waiver questions
Does Colorado require a statutory lien-waiver form?
No statewide template was found. Colorado instead mandates substantive content in C.R.S. § 38-22-119(2): the waiving party must address whether covered third-party debts have been or will be timely paid. A generic national form that omits that representation is not aligned with the Colorado statute.
Can a Colorado GC use a pre-work no-lien clause?
The current statute does not expressly void every advance waiver. It does limit any waiver's binding effect to its parties, and Colorado precedent requires clear intent. Because no published post-2009 appellate decision located here squarely resolves a modern pre-work clause under the amended statute, a GC should not treat boilerplate as a risk-free substitute for payment-stage waivers or Colorado counsel's project-specific review.
Can an unconditional waiver be signed before a check clears?
The document can expressly define when it becomes effective. Mountain Stone warns that a claimant cannot assume a broad release is conditional merely because a contractor's check later fails, especially when an owner paid in reliance. A safer workflow uses explicit collected-funds language for a conditional waiver and issues the unconditional waiver only after confirmation.
Does one subcontractor's waiver protect against lower-tier claimants?
Not automatically. Section 38-22-119(1) makes the waiver binding only between its parties, and Armour rejected using a higher-tier contract alone to waive nonparties' rights. The signer’s required debt statement is important protection, but it is not the same as a separate waiver from every potential claimant.
Is a waiver the same as releasing a recorded lien or a public-work claim?
No. A routine progress/final waiver concerns lien rights before or apart from recording. Section 38-22-118 governs satisfaction after a private mechanic's lien has been filed and paid. Public property cannot be subjected to an Article 22 mechanic's lien; Article 26 bond and retained-fund remedies require a separate public-works release analysis.
Is the Colorado form on this page one I can use?
No. The Colorado document shown is a specimen with sample values, drawn from SubLien's reference as of 2026-08-31. It is not published by the state and is not a form to print, complete, or sign. The two samples this page offers on request are a different thing — plain conditional and unconditional waivers written by SubLien for review with your attorney; no state published them. Inside SubLien the current internally source-reviewed system template is filled from your project record; SubLien does not determine that a form is legally correct.